THE BULLETIN BPS NEWSLETTER
Issue 16
The Bulletin BPS Newsletter
9 th December 2016
REMINDERS
IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT’S DONE – NELSON MANDELA
Happy 25th Anniversary BPS! This academic year sees the British Primary Section mark its 25th Anniversary. In assembly today we celebrated the fact that Taipei British School came into being in 1991, and talked a little bit about our history and how we evolved into The British Primary Section at Taipei European School. Our first premises were in the Chientan Youth Activity Centre near to the Grand Hotel. We were only there for a short while before moving, along with the French and German Schools, to Wenlin Road in 1992. The school at that time was not in its current buildings, but had taken over the old TAS building. In 1998 we kept on moving as, while Early Years and Year 1 and 2 remained where they were, Years 3 upwards said a temporary goodbye to Wenlin Road and moved to the newly built Yangminshan campus. The new millennium saw a change in name as in 2002 the Taipei European School name was adopted by all sections. Our next milestone was the decision to build the new European Primary campus at Wenlin Road. Work began in 2004 and in three years the campus we see today was fully operational and the whole of the British Section were based on the same campus. Today’s Junior Assembly was a busy one! In addition to our 25th Anniversary celebration we
by Mr. Peter Sloan
were also joined by representatives, two legged and four legged, from the SPCA. Our Tribe Council have voted to support the SPCA and Ti Hwei Home for Orphans through the Reverse Christmas Tree donations this year and the SPCA came in to say thank you. We also held our Tribe Assembly to find out which Tribe had achieved most merits in our First Term. The winners, with an impressive 4672 merits were Paiwan. The final part of both the Junior and Infant assemblies marked our 25th anniversary and the highlight was the award of long service certificates to three of our staff. We talked about the buildings that the school has known during its 25 years, but we ended by thinking about the most important part of our school – the people. BPS is special because of the children, staff and parents who have made up our community over the last quarter of a century. Marking the dedication of three of our staff, Erlinda Lin, 24 years, Debra Lee, 20 years, and Su Long Ho 23 years, was a fitting way to celebrate 25 years of the British Section.
Please be reminded to return the books to th the library before Friday 16 December
For a change in bus destination, please contact Natalie N before 2:30pm. Natalie’s mobile: 0918 016 249
We will be giving the children some small mementoes to mark the 25th Anniversary and our May Musical Concert will be a 25th Anniversary special. We also have some special works of art that will be created to mark our reaching 25 years. As we look to the next 25 years, BPS will continue to provide a world class education for our children.
Non-Uniform Uniform Day on the last day of term: th Friday 16 December 2016
THE BULLETIN BPS NEWSLETTER
Issue 16
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Some more in the 25th Anniversary & Tribe Assembly
Congratulations
Guests from SPCA
to
Paiwan
Long Service Awards to Debra, Su-Long Su and Linda Thank you for your hard work 25 Years ago
1992
1998
2004
2007
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Gracias por el canto fantástico
by Mr. Peter Sloan
We were delighted to welcome students from one of the Spanish classes in the British Secondary and High School to the Primary Campus earlier this week. The students celebrated the festive ive season with some lovely carols sung in Spanish. iMuybien!
FUN QUIZ OF THE WEEK:
Can you find Mr. Milner in the cover photo? If you want to know the answer, check with Mr. Milner please.
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Dutch Class
With Eager Anticipation by Ms. Petra Hoeve There were happy and surprised students last week during Dutch classes – look at the pictures which say more than words. They learned baking ‘pepernoten’; explained the baking process to other students; helped other students make rhyming poems; presented Sinterklaas news; learned words by playing social games; convinced or held a discussion on the celebration of the traditional party of Sinterklaas and Pieten.
"Who is knocking there, children, hear who knocks there, children, hear who knocks it gently on the window? It is certainly a stranger, who is lost for sure, I would even ask for his name. St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas, will soon comes to visit us, and then bring some goodies in every corner”. Softly humming the Sinterklaas songs, students worked on their everyday language and spelling assignments. They jumped merrily at the end of the lessons as the popular Sinterklaas song 2016 "Viva Santa Claus" echoed through the loudspeakers in class, danced spontaneously with the Piet choreography and sing/rap along with ‘coole Piet Diego’ or ‘party Piet Pablo’. All students, young and old, were surprised to discover that Piet had left a small gift including a poem for everyone in school. With songs like "Look there is the steamboat from Spain again" lessons went quickly, and the students looked forward to the arrival of
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Sinterklaas in TianMu on Saturday 3 December. At the venue the students sang loudly: "He comes, he comes, dear good Saint. My best friend, your best friend, the friend of every child. My heart beats, my heart beats so happy. What he brings for you, what he brings for me, what he brings for you and me." But what did we see? Sinterklaas was alone this year? Walking through the streets of TianMu without his horse Amerigo, or the Pieten? Sinterklaas told the teacher that he had not seen the Pieten since the morning. He didn’t know what was going on, but he suspected that the Pieten were busy with other things than preparing the gifts for the children in Taipei. All week they had been secretive and often. Ohhh .... a bit later two Pieten arrived - it's true - they had a surprise for Sinterklaas; namely bags full of fabrics for the palace in Spain! This year, the ancient palace was nicely refurbished with beautiful sleek modern whitewashed walls, very bright and spacious, said Sinterklaas, but the Pieten totally disagreed, and had bought fabrics in Taipei to make the palace cheerful with new curtains and cushions. Immediately, the jute sacks were emptied, large coloured hakka patches were shown. Inside awaited another surprise, beautiful paintings made by the students were displayed, and those would also go on the empty present boat to Spain. Sinterklaas was quickly convinced that the palace would be decorated with the new stuff, reflecting the joy and satisfaction of the Dutch-speaking children living in Taiwan. Coming months he can muse during a cup of iced tea about the memorable afternoon in TianMu - Taipei. But no presents for the
children! Sinterklaas questioned where the presents, chocolate letters, gingerbread ginger cookies, gifts and poems were we for the children. When Pieten explained explain that all gifts were delivered the previous evening to TianMu, Sinterklaas quickly took the big red book and started start to hand over to everyone a personal word and a surprise. It was a wonderful party, young and old enjoyed Sinterklaas 2016. More pictures click http://oranjedumpling.com/jong http://oranjedumpling.com/jong-en-oudgenieten genieten-van-sinterklaasfeest-2016/ Christmas celebrations celeb in The Netherlands and Belgium are separate from the visit of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is a mythical figure with legendary, historical and folkloric origins based on Saint Nicholas or The Saint. Sinterklaas is celebrated annually with the giving of gifts on the evening of 5 December or the morning of 6 December. He is the primary source of the popular Christmas icon of Santa Claus. It all starts mid-November mid (the first Saturday after 11th November) when Sinterklaas travels with a steamboat full of presents, p sweets and candy to a city or town in The Netherlands. Dutch tradition says that Sinterklaas lives in Madrid, Spain and every year he chooses a different harbour to arrive in the Netherlands, so as many children as possible get a chance to see him him. Sinterklaas travels with 'Pieten' ('Peters'). When Sinterklaas and Pieten come ashore from the steam boat, all of the local church bells ring in celebration. Sinterklaas, dressed in his red robes, leads a procession through the town, riding a white horse, horse called Amerigo. Children are told that Pieten keeps keep a record of all the things they have done in the past year in a big red book. For more information have a look at: http://www.whychristma http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/holla nd.shtml
THE BULLETIN BPS NEWSLETTER
Issue 16
Year 4 Animal Arts A Gallery by Mr. Eamonn O'Callaghan
The BPSS students in Year 4 have put up an exhibition of art in the new school gallery, formally the parent's cafe. Their work is inspired in by Eric Carle and the theme of animals. Please comee and see the work. There is also a step by step guide to making Eric Carle style art on the art department's website: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/eric-carle--author-study
With so many students there is never enough room to display everyone's artwork but all the pieces are posted online here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133642183@N05/albums hotos/133642183@N05/albums
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THE BULLETIN BPS NEWSLETTER
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*Reserve Christmas Tree: please be reminded to bring your donation envelope to your class donation box before Friday 16th December*
Year 2 Trip to Li Family Home
(Tue) 13 Dec
- Foundation Stage Christmas Show 10:45am
(Wed) 14 Dec
- Key Stage 1 Christmas Sing-a-long long Performance 1:30pm - Class Party: Year 3
(Thu) 15 Dec
- Class Party: B4.1, B4.2, Year 6
(Fri) 16 Dec
- Class Party: Nursery to Year 2, B4.3, B4.4, Year 5 - Tri-Section Christmas Assembly - Christmas Non-Uniform Day - Reports Out
19 Dec – 3 Jan - Christmas and New Year Holiday (Wed) 4 Jan
Year 2 Trip to Li Family Home
- Back to school
For more details of the school school academic calendar, please click the link below: http://www.taipeieuropeanschool.com/calendarM.php
Year 6 Design & Technology lesson
